Improvement plans finally okayed for 17 HISD schools

Reconstitution to restructure 17 campuses draws lone 'no' vote

Updated 11:30 am, Friday, July 17, 2015

Houston Independent School District trustees on Thursday approved school improvement plans for 17 low-performing campuses after twice rejecting them as a state deadline loomed.

The board agreed 5-1, with three absent, to sign off on the plans. Board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones had called a special meeting after Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams gave the HISD until Tuesday to submit the plans.

She repeatedly expressed concerns that the proposals did not fully embrace a "community school" model, which centers on partnerships with social-service nonprofits and other agencies to help students and families, rather than ousting teachers based on standardized test scores.

The HISD board first rejected the school improvement, or reconstitution, plans in mid-June on a 3-3 decision, followed by a 4-2 opposition vote a week later. The repeated votes were a rare occurrence for a traditionally routine item required by the state. Superintendent Terry Grier had been unable to muster majority support as trustee attendance was spotty and may have skewed the outcome.

Skillern-Jones said after the meeting Thursday that the process worked, with principals revising their plans to include more specifics, such as social services that help low-income students with more than simply academics.

"It was not an exercise in futility," she said. "Hopefully, they will yield improvement."

The state requires the reconstitution plans for schools that failed to meet academic standards for two straight years. The law does not require principals and teachers to be fired but says staffing changes should be considered.

HISD's plans varied, but several said that numerous teachers were being replaced for the upcoming school year or had left in recent years. Several principals also are new.

Lunceford previously said he was troubled by the plan for Las Americas, a school for new immigrant children, and questioned whether Grier's administration had mandated certain reforms. However, Lunceford said in an email before the latest vote that he had spoken with school officials in his Bellaire-area district and "they are comfortable with their plans." He missed the meeting due to business travel.

"Do not set our schools up for failure," Alpa Sridharan, of Community Voices for Public Education, told the board, urging a community schools concept, particularly to help the homeless and refugee students at Jackson Middle School in Stipeche's east Houston district.